Book-holder



(No Model.)

L- McG. SNYDER.

BOOK HOLDER.

N0. 343,085. I 1/ Patented June 1, 1886.

at the lower end of the frame.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

LAXVRENOE MOGLELLAN SNYDER, OF BROOKVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

soon-HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 343,085, dated June 1,1886. Application filed Decemberll, 1885. Serial No. 185,948. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE MOOLELLAN SNYDER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Brookville, in the county of Jefferson and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement inBook-Holders, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to in'iprovemenls in book-supports; and the noveltyconsists of the peculiar construction and combination of parts,substantially as hereinafter fully set forth, and specifically pointedout in the claims.

The primary object of my invention is to provide means which shall benormally pressed and held in engagement withthe leaves of a book when itis placed on the holder, so as to prevent the leaves thereof fromturning over, which means can be readily operated so as to be thrownout. of engagement with the leaves of the book to permit them to beturned.

A further object of my invention is to pro vide means whereby books ofvarious sizes can be very firmly held and clamped in the holder, toprovide means whereby the angle of the book-supporting frame can bevaried and held in any desired position, and to provide means whichshall be simple, strong, light, and durable in construction, thoroughlyeffective, and easy of operation and ad j ustment, and cheap ofmanufacture.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of abook-holder constructed in accordance with my invention, showing thedevice in a position for standing on a desk or the like. Fig. 2 is avertical central sectional View of the same. Figs. 3 and 4 are views ofa modification of my improvements.

Referring to the drawings, in which like letters of reference denotecorresponding parts in the several figures, A designates the mainsupporting-frame, which is preferably made of wire, and so bent astoprovide an upper horizontal bar, a, two parallel side bars, a, andsupporting-legs a and a socket, cf, the supporting-legs and socket abeing arranged The legs a are adapted to rest on a desk, table, or otherlike place, and are preferably bent at an angle, as shown, and acylindrical shell, B, is secured between the wires that formthe socketor loop a by soldering or otherwise, that constitutes a handle, wherebythe device can be conveniently held in the hand. This handle B is madecylindrical and hollow, with closed ends, and one of its vertical wallsis slotted, as at b, for a purpose presently described.

O designates upward]y-extending arms or brackets, which are rigidlysecured at their lower ends to the upper crossbar, a, of the main frameA, said arms having trunnions c at upper ends, on which are journaled orpivoted a leaf-holding frame, D, also made of wire. This frame D ispivoted or journaled so as to move outwardly, to permit theleaves of thebook to be turned freely without hin- (lerance from the frame, and saidframe comprises side bars, (I, which are preferably inclined and bentinwardly at their ends, as at (2, and the upper ends thereof have eyesor bearings d", bent or formed therein to engage the trunnions c, alower crossbar, d connecting the lower bent ends of the sidebars, and anupper cross-bar, (1*, to which is pivotally connected an actuating-rod,E. The lower end of this rod E enters the cylindrical or tubular handleB, and within the cylinder it hasa head, 6, secured thereto, and athumb-piece, e, projecting through the slot 1) of the tubular handle B.

F designates a coiled spring located in the tubular handle beneath thehead of the rod E, and normally pressing or bearing against the headedrod, so that it is forced upwardly, to keep the pivoted or oscillatingframe D normally pressed down in engagement with the leaves of a book oragainst the main frame A, as is obvious.

G designates a shelf on which the book is to be placed and supported,said shelf being supported on the side bars of the main frame. Thisshelf is preferably made of light strong sheet metal, so as to providetwo right-angled walls, and the vertical wall of the shelf is providedwith sleeves or tubular portions that embrace and are free to slidevertically on the side bars of the main frame. If desired,

this shelf may be rigidly secured on the side bars of the main frame;but I prefer to make it adjustable vertically thereon for the urpose ofaccommodating the device to hold books of different lengths.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings I have shown two means for holdingthe adjustable shelf at any point of elevation, and I will now proceedto describe the detailed construct-ion of these devices, reference beingfirst had more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2-.

H designates a rod, the upper end of which is bent to provide aninwardly-extending arm, on, that is" rigidly secured to the shelf G, andthe lower end of this red enters the tubular handle B through an openingin the upper end or head thereof. The lower end of the adj ustingrod isthreaded, and on this threaded portion works an adjustingnut, 71, thatbears on the head of the tubular handle B, whereby when the nut h isturned by the hands of the operator the rod and the shelf to which it isattached will be adjusted vertically.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings the lower end of the spring-actuated rod E isthreaded for a portion of its length, and on these threads work an adjlisting-nut, I, which has a circumferential recess, 17, formed therein,and in this recess of the adjusting-collar is loosely fitted the lowerend of an arm, n, that is secured to and adjusts the shelf G on the mainframe A.

J designates an adjusting-frame, which is adapted to support and holdthe main frame at any angle when it rests on a desk, &c. Thisadjusting-frame is also made or bent from a single piece of wire, andthe upper ends of the side bars thereof have eyes j, which are looselyor pivotal] y connected to hook-shaped pivots j of the main frame A,thus adapting the adjusling-frame; to be placed at an angle to the mainframe, to support the main frame in an inclined position, which is veryconvenient to the reader. A threaded rod, K, is pivotally connected atone end to the upper cross-bar, a, of the main frame A, and at itsopposite end the said rod passes through an eye, j", of the uppercross-bar of the hinged adjustingframe J, nuts 70 k being arranged onopposite sides of said eyej and working on the said threaded rod to holdsaid frames at the proper desired angles to each other.

In Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings the legs a of the main frame and thehinged adjustingframe J are omitted to provide a device which isdesigned to be held in the hand of the speaker or reader; but thesedevices shown in said figures have the essential features of myimprovementsnamely, the main frame, the slotted handle, the pivoted leaf-holding frame, the spring actuated rod, and the shelf G, for holdingthe book.

When it is desired to place a book, manuscript, &c., in the holder, thethumb-piece e of the springaetuated rod E is forced downwardly by thethumb or fingers of the hand that grasps the handle B, thus depressingthe rod E and elevating the free end of the pivoted leaf-holding frameD, when the book is placed on the shelf G with its leaves opened, afterwhich the thumb-piece is released and the frame D automatically descendsand presses on the leavesof the book to hold the same open. When a leafis to be turned, the frame D is elevated by depressing the finger pieceand rod. The shelf G can be raised or lowered very quickly andconveniently byturning the nuts in-the required direction, and thehinged adj usting-frame can be very readily adjusted at any angle to themain frame to support the same and vary its inclination. The upperangles of the main frame are braced by diagonal brace-wires L, that aresecuredin the corners, as shown.

The various parts of the device are made of 80 wire, for lightness ofconstruction and cheapness of manufacture; but I do not desire to limitmyself to the use of wire frames, as any other material can besubstituted therefor without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I am aware of the patent granted to G. Parent, No. 241,412, for amusicrack, in which a hollow or tubular standard is employed to containa coiled spring, which bears against the lower end of a solid standardthat carries a pivoted arm arranged transversely across the plane of thesolid standard, and is provided with a coiled spring and a handle-pieceto actuate the same; but such is not my invention. I provide a book-holder which comprises a main frame having upwardly-extendedsupporting-arms, a frame for holding the book open that is journaled orpivoted at one edge of the said arms, and a springpressed rod which isprovided with a suitable finger-piece for operating it, and pivoted tothe leaf-holding frame for actuating the latter.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, isa 1. In a book-holder, the combination of amain frame having a handle, a leaf-holding frame, D, pivoted on theframe A, an operating-rod, E, pivoted to the frame D, and provided witha pressurespring that is inclosed within the handle, and a thumb piecefor actuating the rod to raise the free edge of the pivoted frame D,substantially as described.

2. The combination of a main frame, a tubular handle secured thereto, aleaf -holding frame pivoted on the main frame, a rod pivoted to theleaf-holding frame at its pivoted end, and having a finger-piece workingin a slot of the handle, and a spring for bearing against the rod tohold the pivoted frame normally depressed, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the main frame A, a movable shelf, G, looselyfitted at its ends on the parallel side bars of said frame, a threadedrod rigidly connected to one end of the shelf, and a nut for adjustingthe rod and shelf, as set forth.

4. As an article of manufacture, a bookholder comprising a main frame, averticallyadjustable shelf mounted thereon, a handlesecured to the mainframe, a threaded rod secured to the shelf, an adjusting-nut fitted onthe rod and bearing against the handle to adjust the rod and shelfvertically, substantially as described.

5. The combination of a main frame, A, formed of a single piece of wire,and having 5 the eyes j, a supportingframe, J, pivotally connected tothe eyes and adjustable at an angle to the frame and provided with anextended arm, f, a threaded rod, K, pivoted to the main frame A, andpassing through the 0 arm, and the nuts bearing against thearm andfitted on the rod for adjusting the frames J and A at an angle to eachother, substantially as described.

6. As an article of manufacture, a book- 1 5 holder comprising a mainframe havinga tubular slotted handle, a leaf-holding frame journaled onthe main frame, a spring actuated rod pivoted to the leaf-holding frame,and

having a finger-piece that works in the slot of the handle, avertically-adjustable shelf 20- hinged frame, substantially asdescribed.

7 In testimony that I claim the foregoing as 30 my own I have heretoaffixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LAWRENCE MCCLELLAN SNYDER. Witn'essesz. 1

J. G. SNYDER, ScoTT MOOL'ELLAND.

